Chapter 59: Triple Crisis

The Wau felt a deep inner torment, welling up within him like the turbulence of magma inside a planet on the verge of explosion.

What was the point of solving problems one by one, carefully selected, with the right balance of ethics and intervention, when everywhere-everywhere, EVERYWHERE-immense tragedies were unfolding, horror-filled situations barely lingering in their den, and if ever one were cleaned out, they would immediately return, because the problem wasn’t the horror but the den? And what if humanity, taken as a system, owed its stability to its share of horror, and that seeking to eliminate those horrors would lead it into instability and destruction? And what if the Aleph, as the Xenos claimed, was ultimately a normal selection process, meant to cleanse the universe of its weakest components?

The Wau was weary, and not far from ending his entire enterprise.

Lucky, who was waiting for him seated on a chair lowered by his Brothers, jumped on him, but said nothing.

- “A rather disappointing meeting, but you expected that, Lord of the Distant Throne.”

- “His Highness holds both worlds with a firm hand...”

The Wau, who had been about to leave, paused in his tracks. His mask had no eyes, but he was clearly looking at the Android.

- “If I kill Huan, would you take his place?”

The Android was left speechless. His crude face showed no emotion, and since he had no biological brain, the Wau couldn’t probe him at all, but his silence said everything. Huan was so violent, so quick to kill out of indifference-likely to mutilate or torture to maintain control over people who had known nothing else-that all obeyed him in terror. Even Lucky, who aspired to freedom.

- “Don’t answer. I’m not judging you. I understand. Think about it.”

Around them, the Brothers didn’t know how to react. Technically, for not saying no, they should have killed him-but what if the Wau really killed Huan? That would solve quite a few problems.

That would solve quite a few problems, thought the Wau at the same time, as he walked away.

And yet, in the Wau’s databases, there was this note: killing the bloodthirsty dictator will not prevent what the dictator would have done from happening anyway. Assassination merely postpones a problem without solving it, and worse, sometimes hastens it. The tale of the lone man who leads the world to ruin or redemption is a myth. The lone man exists because others were merely waiting for him to carry out a plan they themselves inspired.

And yet, my brothers, you have not known the Aleph.

The Wau turned back toward Lucky, who under his mechanical eyes still looked shocked.

- “Lucky ... kissing a stranger on the balcony of a palace, at the peak of your glory, is not a vision you need to recreate or chase. You must focus on the rest of your vision: what brought you to that glory. And what did your vision say? That you led trillions of men into battle. That’s what you must focus on. Focus, Lucky. And you’re in luck: a war is coming. The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. Don’t miss your chance. Don’t miss the place that’s waiting for you.”

And he turned to leave again. Lucky shouted:

- “But it’s YOU, Stella!”

The Wau was disappearing into the stairs, not without replying:

- “Who knows, Lucky? Who knows...”

A much calmer crossing of the fortress followed, under the curious and sometimes threatening gaze of the Brothers. A hundred-meter leap to reach Babylon Square, just as the sun was rising over Booz.

All his AIs froze and alerted him of several alarms: Ravzan was requesting an immediate communication. But that wasn’t all: the tracker placed on Ada indicated a state of deep panic tied to endangerment and risk of death. She was on Leonardo ... what? What was she doing there? The Wau had no ship. Part of him began thinking, and he opened the communication.